(AP) Ed Pane has seen people die from drug overdoses during his long career as a counselor.

But the death of a 20-year-old womanrecently touched him deeply.The young woman, a talented artist, lived in another state and shared a mutual friend with Pane.He first saw her four years ago in a photograph when she was nose-to-nose with a horse and smiling.As warmed as he was by the innocence of the photo, Pane was equally unsettled when she died.In response, he will start a free support group in Hazleton for people who lost someone they love to drugs.Drug overdoses last year claimed 139 people in Luzerne County, 15 to 17 people in Carbon County - where three cases await test results - and 77 in Schuylkill County, where three have died already this year.Anyone interested in taking part in the support group can contact Pane at 570-436-7022 or counseling.com.He thinks the group can fit into his office and meet there weekly at the start."We'll let it find its place," said Pane, a licensed clinical social worker who directed Serento Gardens Alcohol and Drug Services in Hazleton for 35 years and now is in private practice and writes columns for the Standard-Speaker.The loss of a loved one goes beyond words, but Pane expects that people who come to the group will have well-meaning friends who offered cliches that failed to comfort them.Or they experienced an awkward pause in conversation after saying that their child died from a heroin overdose.The group members, Pane hopes, will understand each other and, perhaps, grow into a local chapter of GRASP, or Grief Recovery After Substance Passing.Patricia and Russ Whittenberger, who wrote "When a Child Dies From Drugs," started GRASP after their daughter died in 1994. GRASP has become a national organization, and the Whittenbergers have handed the leadership to Gary and Denise Cullen, who lost a son to drugs.Because GRASP is for people who have lost a loved one to drugs and Pane hasn't, he said leaders of a local chapter might arise from the support group.More information about GRASP is at grasphelp.org.